2005-01-16

While I don't play any musical instruments[1], I enjoy music tremendously. Most of my current musical exposure is listening to music on my laptop[2] and going to concerts.

This past week was amazingly successful on the concert front, as two family friends had pairs of tickets to two different Stanford Lively Arts performances, but their counterparts (fiancé and husband, respectively) were out of the country. So I got to see Itzhak Perlman last Saturday, and the Emerson String Quartet this past Friday.

As far as I'm concerned, this is almost an embarrassment of riches -- two fantastic performances, with gorgeous classical music[3]. The choking sounds from the other end of the phone lead me to believe that willowlaughter thinks it is. <sigh> It's a hard life. =]

[3]Perlman, playing with Janet Goodman Guggenheim, played Mozart's Sonata for Violin and Piano in F Major, Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major ("Kreutzer"), Dvořák's Four Romantic Pieces, and Smetana's From My Homeland. The Emerson String Quartet played Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 1, Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 3, and Beethoven's String Quartet in C-sharp Minor. Did I mention an embarrassment of riches?